Gas turbines are continuously exposed to increasing operating temperatures in order to enhance efficiency and performance. In order to withstand the increasing temperatures, components of the gas turbines are coated with thermal barrier coatings (TBC). The TBCs provide low thermal conductivity and ultra low thermal conductivity coatings for the gas turbine components.
During operation of the gas turbine, the TBCs can become damaged and/or degraded. The damage and/or degradation of the TBC may expose the gas turbine component to temperatures which damage the component. Often, the damage and/or degradation of the TBC are due to the atmospheric and operational conditions of the gas turbine.
For example, at the high operating temperatures of the gas turbine, environmentally ingested contaminants, such as airborne sand/ash particles, melt on the hot TBC surfaces and form calcium-magnesium-aluminosilicate (CMAS) glass deposits. The CMAS glass penetrates the TBC and leads to loss of strain tolerance and TBC failure.
A thermal barrier coating and method of forming a thermal barrier coating not suffering from the above drawbacks would be desirable in the art.